City and Sea (Polis kai Thalassa)

In which our friends interrogate the hapless Philander — Gain fatherly approval and spare security forces — Locate the wayward Flora (& One-Eye) — Three mages plot to capture Jack — Recruit a most strange individual for purposes of inconspicuous surveillance — A disagreement about assistance — The plan in place for tomorrow.

In which our friends return home to discover that the house is under attack — Flora and One Eye missing — Spiders! Spiders everywhere! — A battle in the treasure room — The would-be burglar captured — The connection with past love interests — The connection with Jack! — A plan is put into motion…

Lukas is consulting with his bishop again. Lukas’s bishop suggested that an eccentric research librarian at the Imperial Library might know more. He also insisted that Lukas put in a public appearance later this week.

Kaden spent some time trying to figure out what the unicorn does. He knows that it is a manifestation of something, but he can’t quite figure out what.

Max was informed of the result of the research into the live rat they had caught. The rat is a manifestation of innocence, possibly caused by exposure to some major magical artifact.

Returning to the mansion, the three of them (plus Bergholm & Co. and One-Eye) go down into the tunnels again. Max uses Mage Sense to seek out anomalies around them, seeing the rats as tiny points of innocence. He spots an area that has a complete lack of innocence (and presumably rats).

Lukas paints a sign with a happy face, showing which way they went. As they approach, they encounter a magical darkness that seems to effect even their torchlight. On Max’s advice, they retreat, and Lukas attempts to redraw his happy face, failing miserably and making it even more happy.

The magical darkness turns out to be following Kaden, and they eventually find a hideout…Kara’s hideout. Liz reveals herself to Kaden. Max picks up the lantern of foresight that was in the hideout and they all set out onward.

After passing through a maze of passages, they open a sealed door and find themselves in an underground cistern. Carefully picking their way along the slightly submerged ledge around the outside, they make their way to the stairwell at the other end of the cistern. Well, except for Kaden, who noticed that his unicorn was walking straight across the water. He tried to ride the unicorn, failed, and got dragged across, soaking wet.

They navigated the broken stairs and made their way to the surface, where they found themselves in the Harbor Market, some distance North of the mansion.

Deciding to head towards the Library and Basicilica, reached the Grand Square, where they were interrupted by crowds and guards. Lukas eventually managed to get through the crowd and briefly preached to them, and then the party proceeded to the Library.

The research librarian turned out to be a little old lady. Lukas attempted to communicate with the her through a mixture of shouting and hand gestures. She sent them to the appropriate shelves, where Max discovered vital information about the history of the Vases. Attempting to dig deeper, they discovered that Jack had stolen some of the books they needed.

They reported this to the librarian, who summoned one of the pale Guard Orcs and told him about the crime. Kaden followed the orc when he left, but his attempt at stealth was less than successful, and trying to ride the unicorn away was an even worse failure.

The others, noticing that Kaden was gone, got a hall pass from the librarian and went looking for him. They found him in the barracks, surrounded by the pale-skinned orcs. Max convinced them that Kaden had only been looking for the facilities, and they let him go. The orcs only noticed the unicorn’s presence when Max mentioned it.

Max used the opportunity afforded by the hall pass to snoop around, but only managed to find the room where the imperial tax census records were kept.

Having made it safely through the city to his home cathedral, Lukas consulted with his bishop. Sergius ignored Kaden, or tried to, and told Lukas to consult with the Patriarch at once.
Lukas went down to the stables, accompanied by a small squad of guards, and found a horse to ride. He then rode out of the compound and into the crowd. Kaden followed next to the horse, trying not to be noticed.
Lukas lead the crowd to the Grand Square in front of the basicilica. Once there, he was let inside, while Kaden stayed outside with the crowd. Lukas made his appeance on the balcony and started addressing the crowd. The crowd appeared to be more interested in chanting “Down with the Blues” than in listening, which prompted Kaden to pull out his bow.
Upset that Lukas wasn’t doing enough to calm the crowd, Kaden impulsively shot a warning arrow past Lukas’s ear, trying to imply that he should stop this. Lukas spotted Kaden just as he was about to shoot, prompting him to shield the nearest guard, and the arrow missed everyone.
Kaden disappeared into the now rioting crowd, unnoticed by everyone except Lukas, who sent guards down to retrieve Kaden. Kaden attempted to knock out the guard who was trying to bring him inside, and failed, getting dragged inside.
Lukas, meanwhile, pacified the crowd with an inspired speech.
Back inside, Kaden was dragged in front of Lukas, who convinced the guards to let him be. A duel of wits followed, with Kaden trying to convince Lukas “not to use the will of the people, because you don’t know what God wants.” Lukas, on the other hand, was of the opinion that “God wouldn’t have given me this if he didn’t think I could handle it.”
Kaden, who can be persuasive when he restrains his impulses, convinced Lukas that he should start questioning his superiors.
That settled, they went down to the armory and borrowed some equipment, particularly armor that prominently displayed the Green insignia.
From there, they went to see Kaden’s father. He was less than impressed with the rioting, but conceded that Kaden had shown promise in exploring the tunnels. Kaden complained that Bergholm didn’t obey his commands, but Kaden’s father told him that Bergholm was like that with everyone, even him, and implied that he didn’t fully trust Kaden just yet.
However, he did agree to send the killers of Lukas’s brothers to the courts to be tried.
In addition, he told Kaden that the unicorn was likely a manifestation of something that would otherwise be abstract, a particular kind of supernatural occurrence.
Kaden’s father, in a show of reluctant support, also agreed to send One-Eye and Bergholm (& Bergholm’s team) along so they could help with the next expedition to the under-city tunnels.

Kaden has more problems

Kaden decided to visit his father again. Lukas, still waiting for a message from the Chained Ones, decided not to accompany him, but mentioned his brother’s names to Kaden, hoping that Kaden can find the ones who killed Antonio and Brutus in the Autumn Skirmish.

Kaden’s father wasn’t very forthcoming, but mentioned that there was a new Imperial Harbormaster, and promised, if Lukas accompanied Kaden, that he “will not harm him myself.”

Going to the estate (with Lukas, Flora, and One-Eye) Kaden took possession. The family lawyer informed him of the estate’s resources (a 5D fund) and expenses (seasonal expenses and taxes totaling Ob 5). Kaden also retrieved the saddle from the silk merchant and discovered that the other items were long gone.

Lukas had no trouble at all finding the secret door that hid the portal, and together they managed to open it, revealing steps that lead down into the darkness. At the bottom of the stairs they found a bronze door, aged and locked. The Blues evidently descended no further than this.

Lukas managed to pick the lock easily, remarking, “I’m a natural lockpick, I should have gone into crime.”

Underground, they found a very old fissure cut into the natural rock. At the first fork, they went right, following signs of relatively recent passage. At the end was a broken brick wall with an opening that lead to a square chamber. There was a square pedestal in the center of the chamber, but whatever had been on the pedestal was gone.

Lukas discovered that one of the walls was actually a bricked-up doorway. Unable to break it open by themselves, they retraced their steps and explored the other passageway.

They came upon an excavation around the foundation of a buried building, and a noise that turned out to be rats. Rounding a corner, they were stopped by a hastily constructed brick wall and a rat with glowing eyes who ran into a crevice in the building foundation when they scared it.

They also found a half-eaten shovel.

Bringing down some of the servants, they broken through the wall in the square chamber and found a short passage that lead to a hidden door. Dismissing the servants, they figured out how to open the door and discovered a shrine to the Spirit of Aesthetics. Exploring further, they found the door that lead out to a buried, half excavated street. To the right was a hastily abandoned dig site, to the left, past a pile of rubble from an old cave-in, they found that the street continued onward into the darkness. A little ways down the street, they found the doorway that lead into the rusticated building they had been in the tunnels behind.

Inside the warehouse, door long gone missing, they found broken pottery and many rats. Kaden shot one with his bow. Lukas noticed that the rat’s eyes were still glowing after they had cut it in half.

Returning to the surface, Kaden went to see his father again. He surprisingly managed to convince his father of his sincerity and trustworthiness, so that his father lent him Bergholm the dwarf’s squad. (A short but definitive Dual of Wits.) His father seems to be warming up to him again.

Having some free time, Kaden went looking for a horse at the Hippodrome. His Faith resulted in a minor miracle, and the horse breeder gave him a horse for free. A horse that turned out to be a unicorn and caused no end of attention as Kaden walked through the city to return to the mansion.

Meanwhile, Max was commissioned by The Chained to hunt down a rogue neophyte sorcerer who has been raiding the warehouses. Attracted by the unicorn, he ended up meeting with Kaden and they both discovered that the neophyte sorcerer was one of the ones who had been trying to break into the house while Kaden and Lukas had been at sea.

Searching the party guest list, Max found two possible names, both minor nobility: Theophane and Philander.

Jack Meryll, Magician turned Artifact Hunter for reasons of his own, had got wind of an incoming heavily-guarded shipment that he suspected contained one of the relics of the old Empire that he was searching for. He also knew that, Kaden, the outcast son of the Blue Faction’s leader was looking for information about the artifacts. Drawing on his circles, he hired a man named Merkle to lead him to the Exile’s hideout.

Merkle, as it turned out, was a pickpocket and small-time thief who only know where the Exile was because he had robbed him last week. He knocked on the door and ran, but not fast enough to prevent the Ecile from seeing him. Wary of Jack, but in need of resources, the Exile agreed to help with the job so long as they caught Merkle first.

Merkle outran them both, so they went and leaned on an information broker named Theophane. Theo was intimidated enough to know where Merkle probably was: the Leaky Dragon Tavern in the waterfront district.

Merkle was trying to be inconspicuous and failing, so they cornered him and convinced him to hand the purse over to Jack. Jack gave Merkle a single brass coin. He then went outside, along with the suspicious Exile, where he handed the cash over to the Exile (1D cash on hand). Mollified, the Exile discussed the job and agreed to do it so long as they wouldn’t permanently harm the guards.

After casing the joint, they put the plan into action. The warehouse where the crate was going to be delivered had two permanent guards. The Exile trailed one of the two watchmen, who stopped at the Leaky Dragon on his way home. Meanwhile, Jack secured a private room at the Drunken Mandrake on the waterfront, leaving the impression that he was up to something illicit but mundane.

Joining the Exile, the two of them attempted to get the guard drunk enough to safely carry out the next step of their plan. This proved difficult, because the guard was a bit of a loner.

Seeing that Merkle was still in the bar, desperately trying to get as drunk as possible before the bartender realized he no longer had the cash to pay for his tab, the Exile came up with a plan to have Merkle buy a round for everyone. Which failed spectacularly as the drunk Merkle and the bartender were convinced that the Exile was offering to pay for Merkle’s tab.

Jack had slightly better luck in convincing some of the sailors to join in a drinking game making fun of the Harbormaster (and his daughter) and involved Justinus, the guard. The loser of the game bought everyone a round, and Jack was successful enough at telling tall tales that he got the guard drunk and thinking he was his best friend without spending any of his own money.

They successfully lured the guard outside and hid him away at the Drunken Mandrake.

After the guard had passed out and was bound and gagged, they realized that they had forgotten to ask the guard’s name, and Jack made the closest roll of the night to successfully remember it from earlier in the evening. Jack vowed to always remember everyone’s name.

Kaden, disguised as the guard, reported for duty. The other guard was suspicious of the new “replacement” and ordered him to guard the back door. As soon as Kaden was out of sight, the guard started towards the nearest city watch posting.

At this point, Jack stepped in and asked the guard for directions. The guard was suspicious, but complied long enough for Jack to cast a spell on him that kept him out of the way.

Meanwhile, Kaden had gone into the warehouse and looted the shipping crate. The artifact contained within was a black vase with blank lines etched into it, sealed at the top. When in darkness or shadow, the lines glowed. Jack returned to the warehouse and took the repackaged artifact back to his library to study it. Kaden stayed behind to continue the charade of guarding the warehouse.

Jack refused to meet Kaden at his place and was wary of meeting on Kaden’s home turf, so they agreed to meet at the place owned by a neutral third party, belonging to an acquaintance of Jack’s named Lukas.

A blog for your campaign

While the wiki is great for organizing your campaign world, it’s not the best way to chronicle your adventures. For that purpose, you need a blog!

The Adventure Log will allow you to chronologically order the happenings of your campaign. It serves as the record of what has passed. After each gaming session, come to the Adventure Log and write up what happened. In time, it will grow into a great story!

Best of all, each Adventure Log post is also a wiki page! You can link back and forth with your wiki, characters, and so forth as you wish.

One final tip: Before you jump in and try to write up the entire history for your campaign, take a deep breath. Rather than spending days writing and getting exhausted, I would suggest writing a quick “Story So Far” with only a summary. Then, get back to gaming! Grow your Adventure Log over time, rather than all at once.